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But we reached out to each of four restaurants that have closed to ask what happened. Here’s what we know.

Griddle Me This made sandwiches like this Monte Cristo with over-easy egg using waffles instead of bread when it was open at 7675 N. Blackstone Ave. in Fresno. Less than a year after opening, it has closed.

Griddle Me This

Griddle Me This

The trend of waffles being used as everything from a bun on a lamb burger to a holder for ice cream drizzled with chocolate sauce is going strong.

Despite good Yelp reviews, owner Tina Qi said Fresno wasn’t ready for this type of restaurant. Qi and her husband moved to Fresno from the Bay Area because there wasn’t a restaurant like theirs around.

“There’s not a whole lot of different type of restaurants there that are out of the ordinary, that are new,” she said.

In the Bay Area, new restaurants – no matter how weird the cuisine – are busy for the first year as eager customers want to try them, she said.

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The downtown Teazer World Tea Market has closed. The tea shop’s other three location have been carrying the one in the Galleria at Civic Center Square.

Bethany Clough bclough@fresnobee.com

“They’re very curious but they’re just afraid to try it,” she said. “I think Fresno, the city as a whole, they’re not ready for big changes. It takes time for them to accept something.”

Other factors that may have contributed: Its location, which wasn’t visible from the street; the restaurant was not allowed to put large signs on Blackstone Avenue; and the couple just had a baby, Qi said.

Downtown Teazer

Owner Ann Liao said she didn’t want to close the shop, which opened more than eight years ago. But there wasn’t enough business to keep it going. The three other Teazer shops were keeping it afloat, she said.

Teazer has locations in River Park, the Tower District and West Shaw Avenue and Liao wants to open more.

I can’t tell you why it closed, but it is closed.

Jeff Au, Tang Yuan

The downtown location struggled with rising expenses and a lack of customers in the evenings, even after moving its closing time from 11 p.m. to 7 p.m.

“We had to continually reinvest in that store to keep that store open,” she said. “We’re sentimental people, but business is business.”

About a year after the upscale Chinese seafood restaurant Tang Yuan opened at Palm and Bullard avenues, it is closed. Restaurant hostesses Jaslynn Ekvixysack, left, and Menghua Yuan, right, walk through the large dining room shortly after the restaurant opened.

JOHN WALKER jwalker@fresnobee.com

Tang Yuan

This upscale Chinese seafood restaurant opened with a bang last June. The restaurant at Palm and Bullard avenues had nine tanks holding live seafood, a 155-inch TV and mahjong tables that automatically stacked and shuffled tiles used in the game.

The restaurant shut down for awhile, revamped some things and then reopened. And then it closed again.

It’s been closed for months now but readers haven’t stopped wondering why.

Tang Yuan has the same ownership and management as the 1920 Tea Club, which serves drinks and light eats in the same shopping center.

Manager Jeff Au said Tang Yuan closed because the restaurant has “some problems we have to fix.”

“I can’t tell you why it closed, but it is closed,” he said, leaving the door open to a possible reopening.

Tomo’s

Tomo’s is still planning to open a location inside Manchester Center’s “artisan food community,” said the mall’s general manager Moe Bagunu, who met with the owners recently.

They told him there were “extenuating circumstances” that led to the closure at the Champlain-and-Perrin location, he said.

Tomo’s will be one of at least seven local restaurants opening in a sort of fancy food court in the former Gottschalks space. Work is underway to revamp the space, but the opening is still many months away.

About Bethany Clough

Bethany Clough takes you to all the hidden hot spots around the
Valley. This is the place to find the comings and goings of restaurants, bars and shops around the Valley. Email Bethany at
bclough@fresnobee.com or call her at 559-441-6431.